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martinogg · 07-27-2009, 10:34 PM

Hi I recently posted on my own site here about my experiences of switching from Windows to Linux. I thought I would share it here. If you have any comments or feedback I would love to hear from you.

thanks

After a failed attempt at using Linux 10 years ago, this year I finally plucked up the courage to try it out again. This time round it was a complete success and now I use this almost completely in place of Windows. The performance and cost advantages for outweigh compatibility problems and re-learning requirement to use it. Windows isn't the only operating system out there! Why don't you give something new a try? And you can always jump back between Windows and Linux whenever you need.. you can't lose!

The first attempt in 1999
I heard about Linux many years ago as an alternative to Windows. Out of interest I decided to try it out to see what it was like. I came across a version called Armed Linux. Now usually Linux doesnt use windows filesystems (in those days it was FAT16 and FAT32) and I dont remember such luxuries as partitioning or dual boot. If I wanted to use Linux I would have to switch completely over from Windows. However, Armed Linux was special in that it ran a complete filesystem within a single file on a windows formatted hard drive. This would allow running Linux within windows, relieving the need to completely switch over to an alien system.

It sounded like the perfect way to test it out. Shame it was a terrible experience and it put me off using Linux for years to come. Firstly, it was slow. I had to first boot to windows, then run Linux as an application on top of it. The boot time must have been at least 15 minutes. And then after that using the linux system was incredibly slow. I got to a bash prompt (it didnt go to a graphics interface first like newer versions) and navigated the folders on the system. I finally managed to work out how to get to the graphics system to load but there was no reward. It had no applications to run beyond a simple text editor and calculator, and it was un-usably slow. Slower than windows! On top of that, I had to give 800mb to this test, nearly half of my 1.7gb hard drive. So even working in windows afterwards was an even more painful experience, having removed all my games and having to be careful of every megabyte of usage. Within days I had uninstalled and went firmly back to windows. A failed experiment.

Attempt 2 – 2009
A decade later and a whole different world. Laptops are everywhere and everyone's on-line but Windows is still going strong. My laptop is 3 years old and Windows has been re-installed 3 times, at least. A fresh clean installation is tidy and fast but over time the whole system slows down. Starting up the computer used to be a pleasure, but now it takes a coffee break to wait for it to start up. Opening explorer windows is now a painful experience and don't you dare click that start button unless it is an absolute necessity. No amount of defragging and anti-virus checking can save you, its time for another format.
At the start of this year I was preparing myself for the yearly format; out with the old and in with the new. Downloading all the basic programs I'd need simply to get online to get my old set-up back again safely. Anti-virus, Windows XP Service pack 3, Firefox, firewall software..
And I thought about that horrible experience with Linux all those years ago. I had heard about how Ubuntu linux was easy to use and very popular so I thought I'd give it a try. I had nothing to lose after all, as I would be formatting anyway.
So I downloaded the CD image from the site. The 700mb~ size download took a matter of minutes to download, I remember when downloading my Linux on 56k modem; the 300mb file took me days and days, spread out each evening after I got home from school.. how far we have come!

The installation process was relatively painless. I put the burned CD in the laptop and turned it on. I had to create a new linux partition to install it to, so it did require a fresh install of windows beforehand to get enough space on the hard drive. After installing I found it got all the drivers for my laptop just fine and it also picked the correct resolution for my 15.4 inch widescreen display.

Using Ubuntu Linux does require learning to use a different User Interface from windows, but I found it no more difficult than learning how to use a mac after using a Windows PC beforehand. If you can get to the control panel in windows and install a driver, then you can learn how to use Linux.

The problem that many say is that because Windows is far more popular, you wont get your software to run under Linux. To a certain extent this is true. I have not found Internet Explorer on Linux (and there are still some websites that only work with IE, such as banking sites and official TV on-demand sites) but for the absolute majority of cases there is alternate software which does the job just as well, if not better. Firefox and Open Office replace Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office. I have found these replacements to not only work in the majority of cases with anything I use it for, including Microsoft's own file formats, but its quicker and crashes much less than the windows equivalents. These are also available for free download which runs on Windows.

Once I got used to the change in user interface / window layouts, etc I found Linux to be a far more efficient system to use. Startup / Shutdown times are faster, crashes less and doing things like window switching, browsing for files on the hard drive and clicking through the menus just worked a lot quicker. It is even faster than my clean install of windows.
However there will be times when you just need to use Windows. If you want iTunes, a website only Internet explorer can run or a Video Game, then Linux can't help you. But with a dual boot installation (Very easy to set up) you can restart the computer into Windows and do what you need to do. Just be prepared for the pain of the slowdown when going back..

Consumer choice.
Windows certainly has the stronghold on OS of choice. Its practically impossible to not see Windows installed on a computer that isn't a netbook. And this probably wouldn't matter for a casual computer user who just wants to surf the net, do email and use office to create documents and spreadsheets. So does it matter that alternatives exist that allow you to do the same thing as can would do anyway with your pre-installed Windows?...
Something I'm very glad to see in recent times is the rise in popularity of price comparison websites. You now have a choice in suppliers for gas, electricity and car insurance. Its changing the vision of a nation to show they have the power to shift to the competition and get a better deal. All it requires is effort to find the alternatives.

Its surprising to know that Windows operating systems are one of the few who actually charge, when there are so many others which are completely free. Its especially surprising when the gap between usability is so small and the performance is actually worse than the free alternatives.
I have been using Ubutu Linux for a few months now and I am very happy to use this as an alternative to Windows. I am certainly no geek when it comes to Linux; I don't know how to change the screen resolution or change the theme colours, but I have figured out how to use open office and use firefox and the performance difference is enough for me to stick with it. It will be interesting to see how things go in the future when google's Chrome OS is released.
So the next time you are sitting in front of a 30 second splash screen waiting for your email or Word to load up, why not consider looking at some of the alternatives? It wont cost you anything and you might just be surprised at how much more efficient you could be..

please let me know if you have any feedback or comments. Thanks

Martin

chrisrushton · 07-27-2009, 11:05 PM

OSX for the win...

Linux is OK, a hamster running in a treadmill could run it. I use it for work. I wouldn't use it for my own personal computer unless I had to. For checking email and browsing the internet it really isn't much different from windows.

I do use a mac and bash shell and X11 gives me everything I need in that respect. Definitely far superior to windows in this respect. The slickness of the OSX-Leopard interface is far too good to pass up.

simpo · 07-28-2009, 12:27 AM

I have tried Ubuntu linux too. I really like it.

The only problem that I had was that I still need to use some Windows programs that are not available for the Ubuntu... such as some 3D software...

martinogg · 07-29-2009, 12:00 PM

yeah its true that for specialist windows applications, chances are you will just not get it on linux, sadly. Especially true of games.

martin

ragtag · 07-29-2009, 08:24 PM

Nice to hear that you're enjoying Ubuntu. Linux has come a HUGE way in the last 10 years.

It also comes with a lot more programs installed by default than Ubuntu, including things like Open Office and GIMP for image editing. And lots more available through the Synaptic Package manager at the click of a button.

As a side note, when installing Ubuntu on a machine with Windows, you get an option to resize the Windows partition with a simple slider. (Note! Make backups of your data before doing anything like this...things can always go wrong).

As for Internet Exploder, there is Main Page - IEs4Linux I'm not sure if it runs IE8, but I've used it to test web pages I've been working on in older versions of IE.

Ubuntu is currently my main OS, though I still use Windows for gaming (it's possible to get a number of games running through Wine, but I can't be bothered), a video streaming site that requires IE, WinMeidaPlayer, DRM7, ActiveX...ad noseum and for a couple of programs that are Windows only.

Trezker · 07-30-2009, 05:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by simpo

I have tried Ubuntu linux too. I really like it.

The only problem that I had was that I still need to use some Windows programs that are not available for the Ubuntu... such as some 3D software...

What kind of 3D. If modeling and animation, I use Blender. ^_^

As for gaming.. Yeah, it's a bit lacking. I'd really like to find a good racing game for one. (Yes, I've tried vdrift, torcs etc... they're boring)
As for MMORPG, WoW works last I heard and personally I play the free game Regnum Online.
There are ports and clones of many old games. You have emulators for the really old games. And for windows games you have wine, though only a fraction of available programs work in wine.

I've run Ubuntu for a few years now, and I haven't even touched windows for a second in over a year. So it is possible to live with only Linux, as long as you're willing to boycott windows-only applications.

ragtag · 07-30-2009, 05:35 AM

Wings3D is a very nice modeler you can get on Linux too, works fine with Blender. That said, many high-end 3D software such as Maya, XSI, Houdini and RenderMan, as well as compositing software like Nuke, are all available on Linux, and a lot of visual effects houses are using Linux because it's stable, fast and flexible and great for render farms too. Now if only Adobe could port Photoshop, it would all be good.

martinogg · 08-05-2009, 07:53 PM

@ragtag: youre right about it coming on, i already used firefox and openoffice so the change-over isn't such a big deal people considering it..

Last week I gave my second toastmasters speech on this very topic about changing from windows to linux, and I got some real-life feedback from people who were unhappy about their windows installations.. it seems introducing them to firefox and open office is the first step. If they can get used to a 'different' environment for standard applications then they might see a reason to change OS too..

freewheelnat · 08-05-2009, 09:21 PM

I used to be on Windows then I switched to Linux then I switched back to Windows and now I'm considering switching back to Linux for my next PC upgrade.

I also own a netbook which is running Ubuntu and I love it.

If you fancy a little game around Linux, I made a Linux crossword a few weeks ago, it was really fun to research and this is one of the reasons I want to switch back to Linux again (probably Ubuntu).

Does anyone know if you can run AutoCAD on Linux? This is what I use for my day job and it would be a bummer if I couldn't "work from home" anymore once in a while

From my days on Linux in 2005/2006, I have kept using softwares like Gimp (available for Windows, like Photoshop), OpenOffice (like Word/Excel etc, available on Windows too) and Audacity (again, available for Windows, a great audio recorder/editor). I have also tried Blender recently (the Windows version) but somehow, I kept hitting a bug and it stopped working properly on my computer so I uninstalled it

07-27-2009, 10:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
martinogg Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 67	Switching over from Windows to Linux.. and I’m not a Linux geek! Hi I recently posted on my own site here about my experiences of switching from Windows to Linux. I thought I would share it here. If you have any comments or feedback I would love to hear from you. thanks After a failed attempt at using Linux 10 years ago, this year I finally plucked up the courage to try it out again. This time round it was a complete success and now I use this almost completely in place of Windows. The performance and cost advantages for outweigh compatibility problems and re-learning requirement to use it. Windows isn't the only operating system out there! Why don't you give something new a try? And you can always jump back between Windows and Linux whenever you need.. you can't lose! The first attempt in 1999 I heard about Linux many years ago as an alternative to Windows. Out of interest I decided to try it out to see what it was like. I came across a version called Armed Linux. Now usually Linux doesnt use windows filesystems (in those days it was FAT16 and FAT32) and I dont remember such luxuries as partitioning or dual boot. If I wanted to use Linux I would have to switch completely over from Windows. However, Armed Linux was special in that it ran a complete filesystem within a single file on a windows formatted hard drive. This would allow running Linux within windows, relieving the need to completely switch over to an alien system. It sounded like the perfect way to test it out. Shame it was a terrible experience and it put me off using Linux for years to come. Firstly, it was slow. I had to first boot to windows, then run Linux as an application on top of it. The boot time must have been at least 15 minutes. And then after that using the linux system was incredibly slow. I got to a bash prompt (it didnt go to a graphics interface first like newer versions) and navigated the folders on the system. I finally managed to work out how to get to the graphics system to load but there was no reward. It had no applications to run beyond a simple text editor and calculator, and it was un-usably slow. Slower than windows! On top of that, I had to give 800mb to this test, nearly half of my 1.7gb hard drive. So even working in windows afterwards was an even more painful experience, having removed all my games and having to be careful of every megabyte of usage. Within days I had uninstalled and went firmly back to windows. A failed experiment. Attempt 2 – 2009 A decade later and a whole different world. Laptops are everywhere and everyone's on-line but Windows is still going strong. My laptop is 3 years old and Windows has been re-installed 3 times, at least. A fresh clean installation is tidy and fast but over time the whole system slows down. Starting up the computer used to be a pleasure, but now it takes a coffee break to wait for it to start up. Opening explorer windows is now a painful experience and don't you dare click that start button unless it is an absolute necessity. No amount of defragging and anti-virus checking can save you, its time for another format. At the start of this year I was preparing myself for the yearly format; out with the old and in with the new. Downloading all the basic programs I'd need simply to get online to get my old set-up back again safely. Anti-virus, Windows XP Service pack 3, Firefox, firewall software.. And I thought about that horrible experience with Linux all those years ago. I had heard about how Ubuntu linux was easy to use and very popular so I thought I'd give it a try. I had nothing to lose after all, as I would be formatting anyway. So I downloaded the CD image from the site. The 700mb~ size download took a matter of minutes to download, I remember when downloading my Linux on 56k modem; the 300mb file took me days and days, spread out each evening after I got home from school.. how far we have come! The installation process was relatively painless. I put the burned CD in the laptop and turned it on. I had to create a new linux partition to install it to, so it did require a fresh install of windows beforehand to get enough space on the hard drive. After installing I found it got all the drivers for my laptop just fine and it also picked the correct resolution for my 15.4 inch widescreen display. Using Ubuntu Linux does require learning to use a different User Interface from windows, but I found it no more difficult than learning how to use a mac after using a Windows PC beforehand. If you can get to the control panel in windows and install a driver, then you can learn how to use Linux. The problem that many say is that because Windows is far more popular, you wont get your software to run under Linux. To a certain extent this is true. I have not found Internet Explorer on Linux (and there are still some websites that only work with IE, such as banking sites and official TV on-demand sites) but for the absolute majority of cases there is alternate software which does the job just as well, if not better. Firefox and Open Office replace Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office. I have found these replacements to not only work in the majority of cases with anything I use it for, including Microsoft's own file formats, but its quicker and crashes much less than the windows equivalents. These are also available for free download which runs on Windows. Once I got used to the change in user interface / window layouts, etc I found Linux to be a far more efficient system to use. Startup / Shutdown times are faster, crashes less and doing things like window switching, browsing for files on the hard drive and clicking through the menus just worked a lot quicker. It is even faster than my clean install of windows. However there will be times when you just need to use Windows. If you want iTunes, a website only Internet explorer can run or a Video Game, then Linux can't help you. But with a dual boot installation (Very easy to set up) you can restart the computer into Windows and do what you need to do. Just be prepared for the pain of the slowdown when going back.. Consumer choice. Windows certainly has the stronghold on OS of choice. Its practically impossible to not see Windows installed on a computer that isn't a netbook. And this probably wouldn't matter for a casual computer user who just wants to surf the net, do email and use office to create documents and spreadsheets. So does it matter that alternatives exist that allow you to do the same thing as can would do anyway with your pre-installed Windows?... Something I'm very glad to see in recent times is the rise in popularity of price comparison websites. You now have a choice in suppliers for gas, electricity and car insurance. Its changing the vision of a nation to show they have the power to shift to the competition and get a better deal. All it requires is effort to find the alternatives. Its surprising to know that Windows operating systems are one of the few who actually charge, when there are so many others which are completely free. Its especially surprising when the gap between usability is so small and the performance is actually worse than the free alternatives. I have been using Ubutu Linux for a few months now and I am very happy to use this as an alternative to Windows. I am certainly no geek when it comes to Linux; I don't know how to change the screen resolution or change the theme colours, but I have figured out how to use open office and use firefox and the performance difference is enough for me to stick with it. It will be interesting to see how things go in the future when google's Chrome OS is released. So the next time you are sitting in front of a 30 second splash screen waiting for your email or Word to load up, why not consider looking at some of the alternatives? It wont cost you anything and you might just be surprised at how much more efficient you could be.. please let me know if you have any feedback or comments. Thanks Martin Last edited by martinogg; 07-27-2009 at 10:35 PM. Reason: typo

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07-27-2009, 11:05 PM	#2 (permalink)
chrisrushton Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Leeds, UK Posts: 303	OSX for the win... Linux is OK, a hamster running in a treadmill could run it. I use it for work. I wouldn't use it for my own personal computer unless I had to. For checking email and browsing the internet it really isn't much different from windows. I do use a mac and bash shell and X11 gives me everything I need in that respect. Definitely far superior to windows in this respect. The slickness of the OSX-Leopard interface is far too good to pass up.

07-28-2009, 12:27 AM	#3 (permalink)
simpo Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 29	I have tried Ubuntu linux too. I really like it. The only problem that I had was that I still need to use some Windows programs that are not available for the Ubuntu... such as some 3D software...

07-29-2009, 12:00 PM	#4 (permalink)
martinogg Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 67	yeah its true that for specialist windows applications, chances are you will just not get it on linux, sadly. Especially true of games. martin

07-29-2009, 08:24 PM	#5 (permalink)
ragtag Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 326	Nice to hear that you're enjoying Ubuntu. Linux has come a HUGE way in the last 10 years. It also comes with a lot more programs installed by default than Ubuntu, including things like Open Office and GIMP for image editing. And lots more available through the Synaptic Package manager at the click of a button. As a side note, when installing Ubuntu on a machine with Windows, you get an option to resize the Windows partition with a simple slider. (Note! Make backups of your data before doing anything like this...things can always go wrong). As for Internet Exploder, there is Main Page - IEs4Linux I'm not sure if it runs IE8, but I've used it to test web pages I've been working on in older versions of IE. Ubuntu is currently my main OS, though I still use Windows for gaming (it's possible to get a number of games running through Wine, but I can't be bothered), a video streaming site that requires IE, WinMeidaPlayer, DRM7, ActiveX...ad noseum and for a couple of programs that are Windows only.

07-30-2009, 05:35 AM	#7 (permalink)
ragtag Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 326	Wings3D is a very nice modeler you can get on Linux too, works fine with Blender. That said, many high-end 3D software such as Maya, XSI, Houdini and RenderMan, as well as compositing software like Nuke, are all available on Linux, and a lot of visual effects houses are using Linux because it's stable, fast and flexible and great for render farms too. Now if only Adobe could port Photoshop, it would all be good.

08-05-2009, 07:53 PM	#8 (permalink)
martinogg Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 67	@ragtag: youre right about it coming on, i already used firefox and openoffice so the change-over isn't such a big deal people considering it.. Last week I gave my second toastmasters speech on this very topic about changing from windows to linux, and I got some real-life feedback from people who were unhappy about their windows installations.. it seems introducing them to firefox and open office is the first step. If they can get used to a 'different' environment for standard applications then they might see a reason to change OS too..

08-05-2009, 09:21 PM	#9 (permalink)
freewheelnat Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: London, England Posts: 39	I used to be on Windows then I switched to Linux then I switched back to Windows and now I'm considering switching back to Linux for my next PC upgrade. I also own a netbook which is running Ubuntu and I love it. If you fancy a little game around Linux, I made a Linux crossword a few weeks ago, it was really fun to research and this is one of the reasons I want to switch back to Linux again (probably Ubuntu). Does anyone know if you can run AutoCAD on Linux? This is what I use for my day job and it would be a bummer if I couldn't "work from home" anymore once in a while From my days on Linux in 2005/2006, I have kept using softwares like Gimp (available for Windows, like Photoshop), OpenOffice (like Word/Excel etc, available on Windows too) and Audacity (again, available for Windows, a great audio recorder/editor). I have also tried Blender recently (the Windows version) but somehow, I kept hitting a bug and it stopped working properly on my computer so I uninstalled it

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